Harvest Day Bounty - with Recipes

For me ‘harvest day’ conjures an image of neighbouring farmers wives congregating in a steamy kitchen and cooking, bottling and laughing whilst preparing for the barren winter months. It hearkens to times of old when neighbours needed to join forces to ensure that nothing of the summer’s plentiful harvest would be wasted, to a time when waste was unforgivable…  And so it seemed fitting in keeping with our old world sense of communal living, our family of three households lives spread over two hills of forest and fynbos, that my mother, the matriarch, would call for a harvest day.  The idea was to make use of whatever was plentiful in the garden, to work together as family and neighbours and bottle as much as we could in one day and then share out the day’s yield. Because as anyone who has ever grown their own knows, when you have tomatoes, you have TOMATOES and when you have beans, you have BEANS! My mom also brought in a whole lot of raw milk, as she no longer keeps a cow or goats, so that she could make cheese and yoghurt for us all and thereby hand over her cheese-making skills. It was to be a day of plenty and productivity.

Harvest day dawned and my sister-in-law and I arrived with recipe books under our arms and grins of expectation on our faces as we literally dived into the main house kitchen and started chopping, boiling and bottling. We were perhaps a bit ambitious with all we planned to make to ensure we used all the garden’s bounty and perhaps we should have researched our recipes beforehand instead of on the day… but the result was just as I imagined a harvest day to be. Kindred spirits together in the kitchen. Laughter, chatter and the sharing of ideas. And the ever-present scents of delectable new flavours bubbling on the stove and filling the kitchen with the steam I envisioned would envelop and bind us together in the act of making.  Wholegrain mustard infused with allspice and nutmeg. Carrot and coriander relish with ginger, chilli and lime.  Good old South African curried beans. Fresh basil and oregano imbued bottled tomatoes. The satisfaction of making my own bottled tomatoes instead of buying tins under the supermarket’s fluorescent glare is almost indescribable. Not to mention the bliss of knowing the true ingredients of the food in my pantry!

Suffice to say our grins were even wider when we left the kitchen later that day with baskets overflowing with bottled goods and a satisfied sense of exhaustion from productively using our hands and all our senses. Now we just need to do it all again, with different ingredients, next month…  

~Bounty ~ tomatoes, green beans, coriander, carrots, basil, thyme, oregano, mustard seeds, raw milk

~Produce~ bottled herb tomatoes, curried beans, wholegrain mustard, carrot and coriander relish, yoghurt, feta and soft cheeses

Happy harvest helpers, also good practice for Easter!

~RECIPES~

Bottled Tomatoes

4kg tomatoes

4 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons oregano, chopped

3 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon sea salt

2 tablespoons sugar

½ cup fresh basil, chopped

4 tablespoons lemon juice

 

Wash and dry the tomatoes, then chop them roughly. Put them in a large pot together with the rest of the ingredients, except the fresh basil and lemon juice. Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for 10 mins, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Add the fresh basil and lemon juice and stir through until mixed. Fill sterilised bottles (by baking in the oven) and seal well. (from Jane’s Delicious Kitchen by Jane Griffiths)

Curried beans

2 kg sliced beans
1 kg sliced onions

5 cups water

4 cups vinegar

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons curry powder

3 tablespoons cornflour

1 ½ cups sugar

Cook beans and onions in water, 3 cups of the vinegar and salt until tender and liquid is greatly reduced. Mix curry powder, cornflour, remaining vinegar and sugar and add to beans. Stir well. Cook for 5 mins and then bottle. (from The Old Cape Farmstall Cookbook by Judy Badenhorst, et al.)

 Cajun Mustard

1 cup dry white wine

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1 teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup mustard seeds

¼ cup cider vinegar

 Bring the wine, garlic, allspice, salt and nutmeg to the boil in a saucepan. Immediately reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 2-3mins. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool, uncovered for 2 hours. Lightly dry-fry the mustard seeds over medium heat and then coarsely crush in a mortar and pestle. Combine the crushed mustard seeds and vinegar in a bowl. Put saucepan back on the stove and bring to the boil over high heat. Stir, then remove from heat and add the mustard and vinegar mixture, whisking to combine. Spoon into sterilised jars. (from The Vegetarian Kitchen by Mellissa Bushby)

Carrot and Coriander Relish

500g carrots, coarsely grated

3cm fresh ginger, very finely chopped

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced

1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted and crushed

Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime

50ml apple juice

Good pinch of salt

8 garlic cloves, chopped

150ml cider vinegar

175g soft light brown sugar

10g coriander leaves, chopped

Mix everything except the coriander leaves in a saucepan. Slowly bring to the boil, stirring to help the sugar dissolve, then reduce heat and simmer for 10mins, until the carrot is soft. Increase the heat a little and cook for 15mins, until you have a soft mixture in which the carrots look almost candied and the liquid has really reduced. Stir to make sure it doesn’t stick to the pan. Take off the heat and stir in coriander. Pot in warm, sterilised jars. (from Salt sugar smoke by Diana Henry)